Chapter 3

“Sarah will do something awful when she finds out about this producer.” The green eyes of Fiona’s sister, Brenna, flashed in anger.

Their cousin, Eva Grace Connelly, made a soft sound of agreement. “This could be serious.”

The three of them were in the back of Siren’s Call, Eva Grace’s shop. Slender, with long red hair and the green eyes of all the Connelly witches, Eva Grace practiced the art of healing as well witchcraft. Voluptuous and auburn-haired, Brenna was an elemental powerhouse, able to command the forces of nature for magical purposes.

While the three witches talked, Ryan was doing a walk-through, setting up tape recorders and cameras in preparation for Fiona’s attempt to contact the shop’s missing ghost. Ghost hunting ate up calories, and Fiona was fueling for this session with chocolate truffles.

She knew her sister and cousin were right to be concerned about Bailey Powers joining them. Their grandmother, Sarah, was the coven leader, and she tolerated Fiona’s webcast only because it focused on Fiona’s abilities as a medium, not a witch. Fiona helped people in New Mourne with hauntings and ghosts, but the webcast featured only her cases elsewhere.

Brenna reached into the bag for a truffle. “Inviting him here is like telling him about the curse and the demon.”

Fiona protested. “Even if he hears about the curse, what human is going to believe our ancestors bargained for survival with a spirit called the Woman in White when they arrived here from Ireland?”

“Think how appealing the Woman in White’s story would be on a ghost hunting show,” Brenna pointed out. “Imagine the reenactment. More than two hundred years ago, a young missionary’s daughter falls in love with a Cherokee brave and has his child. The brave and the child disappear, and the young woman leaps to her death over Mulligan Falls. She becomes the Woman in White.”

“And for some reason she decides to torture our family,” Eva Grace added. “She and her demon.”

“We’ve made payment to her every generation,” Brenna said. “One young witch has died every twenty to thirty years. Many here in New Mourne know these deaths were tributes, not natural deaths. They know that Eva Grace’s mother was taken.” She reached for her cousin’s hand, then turned back to Fiona. “Our neighbors have dealt with the havoc the demon causes when she’s coming for one of us.”

Fiona laughed. “Do you think anyone’s going to get that story out of Willow, the head of our fae? Or the alpha of the local werewolves? The Druid who sits on the commission? Even if anyone talks, the Remember-Not Spell protects us.”

“This is still a terrible idea,” Brenna grumbled, reaching for another truffle.

Eva Grace gently pushed her hand away from the candy. There were only a few left, and she knew Fiona needed them more than Brenna did. “How do we explain why we’re looking for Minnie tonight? Her disappearance is tied to the demon.”

Minnie was the shop’s ghost and had been part of this house in life and in death for nearly one hundred and fifty years. She hadn’t been seen for weeks, not since the demon killed an employee and almost did away with one of the elder coven members on the premises.

“We don’t need that producer here tonight,” Brenna reiterated.

Eva Grace agreed. “Don’t we have enough trouble without introducing outside interest?”

The steady witch inside Fiona agreed. She had been trained by Sarah to be cautious, to think carefully. More and more often, however, she wanted to follow the part of her descended from ancient Irish witches who had fought to defend their homes and families against the blackest magic.

“You’re right that everything is very unsettled,” she agreed. She took a deep breath and told them about her encounter with the crows this morning.

“By the Goddess,” Eva Grace murmured, looking horrified. “You should have told us sooner. This could be signal that the Woman’s pursuit of us is beginning again.”

“And the producer saw all this?” Brenna demanded. “That’s even more reason why he shouldn’t be here tonight.”

“Of course he recorded nothing, and he’ll not remember it when he leaves,” Fiona said. “Anyone he tells about events here will also forget them.”

Anger crackled the air around Brenna. “You’ll endanger us if he sees anything more.”

“I don’t care.” Fiona was surprised to realize how much she meant those words. “I know that we’re still in danger. But I can’t sit around waiting to be tortured by the demon and taken as tribute by the Woman.

“Aren’t you moving ahead with your life?” she demanded of Brenna. “What about your plans with Jake?” Jake was the county sheriff and Brenna’s fiancé. “You’ve stood up to Sarah so often. Why are you trying to hold me back?”

Brenna looked uncomfortable.

Eva Grace’s expression was thoughtful. “What’s this producer like?”

Fiona shrugged. “California. Designer clothes, perfectly groomed hair.”

Her sister studied her for a long moment. “You like him,” Brenna said.

Fiona rolled her eyes. “Don’t be stupid. We’re not in grade school.”

“You’ve never done foolish things over a man,” Eva Grace said.

“He’s not a man. I mean, he’s a man, not a supernatural, but that’s not why I’m interested. I just want to think about what he’s offering. The reality show would be an extension of my webcast.”

Brenna visibly struggled with her temper. “It wouldn’t be that simple.”

Frustrated, Fiona blew out a breath. “Brenna, you brought Jake in on the family secrets.”

“Jake is part of the community and a shape shifter,” Brenna pointed out. “We all have friends who know, like Ryan knows everything.”

“Garth told Jake we were witches.” Sadness deepened Eva Grace’s voice. Garth had been her fiancé, also a shifter. He brought Jake to New Mourne after they served together in the military. Garth had been killed by the demon just a month ago, the day before the wedding that never happened.

It wasn’t fair, Fiona thought. First the Woman in White took Eva Grace’s mother, and then the love of her life. “Okay, I know Jake had to know about the curse because of the way Garth died and the trouble the demon brought to the town.”

“I’m glad you can see how that’s different from a television producer,” Brenna muttered.

“How would a TV show be any different than the books about witchcraft and legends that our parents have written?” Fiona asked her.

Brenna made a dismissive gesture. “Academic studies are very different from reality TV. Our father was a well-known scholar of magic before he ever married Mother. It’s not as if they travel the world doing a magic act.”

“But what about this shop?” Fiona asked Eva Grace. “You sell potions and crystals and all things magical, and you do business all over the world through the website. If Sarah is okay with that, why can’t I expand my horizons a little?”

“Because no one aside from the locals takes the magical aspect of the shop seriously,” Eva Grace replied. “Tourists see it as fun.”

“But some of them come here because they’ve heard about New Mourne’s reputation for the supernatural,” Fiona protested.

“And there’ll be more of that sort of thing if you go on television. We’ll be overrun.” Brenna shook her head.

“Overrun with what?” Jake walked across the shop from the back door, tall and lean in his khaki uniform. He stepped up behind Brenna and laid his hands on her shoulders.

“Fiona’s talking to a producer about doing a reality TV show,” Brenna told him. “He’s coming here tonight.”

Jake looked concerned. “Shouldn’t I check him out first?”

Fiona gave him a hard look. “I’m not careless. I checked him out myself this afternoon. He’s exactly who he says he is.”

Jake began, “Sarah will—”

“I know that, thank you very much,” Fiona said. “That’s why no one should tell her.”

The bell over the front door jangled. “Hello?” a female voice called. “Where is everybody?”

Fiona wheeled on Brenna and Eva Grace and whispered, “What in the hell is Mother doing here?” The guilty look on her cousin’s face revealed who had tattled about tonight’s session.

“Hello?” a male voice asked.

Fiona groaned and rolled her eyes. Her father was here as well.

“Hi, everybody,” said Delia Connelly Burns as she came around a display and toward the counter. She looked beautiful, as always, impeccably dressed in tailored slacks and a soft peach blouse, every fiery red hair in place. Twin to Eva Grace’s mother, Delia resembled her niece more than her daughters. Eva Grace even had Delia’s sense of style, always decked out in smart outfits. Brenna and Fiona preferred jeans.

Their father, Aiden Burns, appeared behind his wife. “Is it okay if we stay in the shadows and watch, Fiona?”

Wanting to scream, Fiona attempted a smile instead. Since before she’d been born, her parents had been traveling the globe, lecturing and writing books. Brenna, Fiona, and Eva Grace had been raised by Sarah.

Delia and Aiden came home to New Mourne after the demon killed Garth, and it became clear the Woman in White was getting ready to take her next Connelly tribute. So far, the Burns showed no signs of leaving. As much as she had missed her parents, Fiona was feeling a bit crowded by them now. They were contributing to her overall dissatisfaction and unease.

“I just hope Minnie’s not going to be afraid to come back with this crowd here.”

“It never scared her before,” Eva Grace said. “We’ve had the shop full plenty of times when I’ve walked up the steps and right through an ice-cold patch. A dozen customers saw her the week before she left. I think she liked being with all the people.”

“Then I need to get ready.” Fiona glanced at the time on her cell phone. Perhaps Bailey had decided against attending tonight.

“Just a minute.” Delia put a hand on both her daughters’ shoulders and squeezed. “I’ve got wonderful news. Your father and I are going to be staying in New Mourne. We’re ready to write the next book, and we’re going to do it here.”

Brenna looked stunned. Fiona sighed.

Aiden beamed at his wife and daughters.

“How long?” Brenna asked with a weak smile. She had never entirely forgiven their parents for leaving them…

Fiona didn’t think she could endure her sister and parents squabbling. She turned toward the front of the store. “Excuse me. I need some peace before we begin.”

She grabbed a bottle of calming spray off a shelf near the door. It was meant for babies, but what the hell. She sprayed it twice and walked through the mist.

The front door opened, and Bailey stepped in. He had changed into jeans and a crisp blue oxford shirt. He glanced around and smiled. “Wow, all sorts of magical stuff.”

“Nothing’s magical until it’s in the right hands.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Have you started yet?”

“Ryan is finishing his walk-through. He always makes sure I can go where I need to unimpeded and removes anything he thinks might block my reach.”

“Like what?”

She explained how she liked mirrors covered and lights dim during a session, and Bailey looked around with interest. The ghost Fiona had seen with him at the graveyard hadn’t been with him this afternoon and wasn’t with him now.

She nodded toward the back of the store. “You can sit back here. I need to focus right now and get my mind cleared.”

At the rear of the store, Fiona performed the introductions, ignoring her parents’ startled looks when she explained why Bailey was here. To their credit, they didn’t question him or her. Brenna glared at him. Jake studied him as if he were suspected of a crime. At least Eva Grace made an attempt at hospitality.

Fiona turned her back on them as Ryan came down the steps. “We’re all clear,” he said. “Are you ready?”

He took a moment to check the computer monitors he had set up. Fiona sat down in a chair in the center of the shop. A purple candle burned on a shelf to her left. Additional candles glowed throughout the shop as Eva Grace dimmed the lights.

Fiona closed her eyes and took three deep breaths, letting them out slowly. Her mind was abuzz with all the people present. She continued her slow, steady breaths and carefully dismissed each person. When she reached Bailey, his smile flashed, and she felt warmth spread through her body.

Not now, she thought, not now. Let Bailey go.

When her mind cleared, she opened herself. As soon as spirits began speaking, she spoke calmly but with authority. “Get out. No visitors tonight.”

After a moment, she felt empty. It was peaceful but a little eerie, too. She was seldom completely alone in her own head. Calming herself, she stood and spoke softly.

“Minnie. Minnie Doyle, are you about?”

The silence continued. All she heard was Ryan’s quiet breathing as he taped nearby.

“Minnie, we’ve been missing you. Won’t you come out and talk to me?”

As Fiona waited, quiet and patient, she recalled what she knew about Minnie. A portrait of Minnie hung on the wall in the area where Eva Grace kept crystal balls and gems. She’d always said Minnie liked shiny things and gravitated to that area most often.

The portrait was circa 1868. Minnie still wore her “widow’s weeds,” or mourning clothes, though her young husband was killed in the Battle of Chickamauga during the Civil War in 1863. According to town lore, Minnie dressed as a mourner for ten years and never remarried. The house had been Minnie’s wedding present from her beloved. She lived there until she died in 1899. She had never left.

“Minnie,” Fiona said again. “You know this is your house, your place to be. Come and talk to me.”

She waited again. Ryan moved closer to her. She didn’t acknowledge him or look his way.

Fiona took another deep breath and pushed her awareness out. She opened her eyes when she felt a glimmer of responsiveness in a far corner. She moved her head only slightly and let her eyes drift open.

Minnie’s image was translucent, but Fiona could see the outline of the mourning dress and the tightly coiled curls atop her head. Fiona said nothing, waiting for Minnie to grow stronger, appear denser.

When the spirit was no longer translucent, Fiona said, “Hello, it’s good to see you.”

Minnie sniffed and said, “I can’t say the same.”

“Where have you been?”

“You of all people know the value of hiding.” Minnie moved toward the gems and ran her hands over a batch of smooth stones.

“Why are you hiding?”

“It’s not safe here,” Minnie said.

There was a soft pop and Minnie was gone. Fiona sat without moving for a moment. She heard Ryan turn off the camera. His hand touched her shoulder.

“All right?”

“I’ll be fine in a minute.”

“That was amazing.” Bailey stepped from behind the computer monitors. He was staring at the spot where Minnie had been.

“Incredible special effects,” he said. “I couldn’t hear what you were responding to, but I actually saw some orbs. I saw the stones move. How did you do that?”

The room went still and silent.

“No special effects, Bailey. I told you I’m a medium.” Fiona rose slowly, her knees a little weak.

Bailey stood by the gem table and waved his hands through the air. “I can’t find any strings or wire.”

“There aren’t any.” Fiona’s words came out a little sharp. She had to remind herself that he didn’t believe, that it was his job to question what he had seen. He squatted and tried to look under the bin holding the gems, but it was flush with the floor.

Suddenly Minnie appeared again. She was less than two feet from Bailey. He stood and looked around, shivering. He rubbed his left bicep, Fiona noted, where she had seen a tattoo earlier.

“Geez, I’m freezing all of a sudden. What’s going on?”

“There’s a ghost beside you,” Fiona said.

Bailey jerked backward.

Minnie shook her finger at Fiona. “It’s not safe in New Mourne, and I’m not coming back until it is.”

Then she was gone.